MORNING REPORT

Records

April 14, 1989|ALEENE MacMINN | Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

Melodiya, the Soviet Union's only record company and the world's largest record producer, will soon receive competition from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, a small, prestigious U.S. record company that embarked on a joint venture with Soviet partners to produce recordings of Soviet artists for sale in both countries. Melodiya, which issues 1,000 titles a year with a total pressing of 100 million copies, has been criticized for its poor quality of recordings and a lack of daring. Calling its new company Arts and Electronics, the joint venture has already built a state-of-the-art digital recording studio in the Moscow Conservatory of Music.